A nicely-written fantasy with an Asian touch that does not feel forced. I love the effortless switching of narrative angles, from the viewpoint of brainy Vikram to the bitter guarded-ness of Gauri. The fantasy world was captivating, leaving just enough space for the readers to fill in with their own imagination, and the banter between the lead characters was well-done.
I did not read the previous book, yet I did not feel like I missed anything.
This is one YA read I will recommend.
*I got a free copy in exchange for an honest review from NetGalley

http://www.wesonerdy.com/2017/03/28/book-review-crown-wishes-roshani-chokshi/

A Crown of Wishes is a spellbinding follow up to the stunning The Star-Touched Queen which was based on a Hades and Persephone retelling. TSTQ has a focus on Indian folklore, mythology, horoscopes and infused with wild imagination and enchanting writing.

Vikram’s eyes widened. “What’s this? Praise from Her Beastliness in the morning? Are you under a curse that makes you friendly before noon? If so, how do we make it permanent?”

A Crown of Wishes follows Gauri and Vikram both princess and prince of neighbouring warring kingdoms, who take part in a deadly tournament of wits and magic. They both have nothing left to lose and take risks for their kingdom and people. Gauri wants her lecherous brother off her throne and to be able to rule her kingdom whether she’s an unmarried woman or not. Vikram the sly fox prince will never be seen as a true ruler and being surrounded by a council of vipers he must never let his mask slip, he must be cunning and swift and prove he can rule regardless of his heritage.

“It felt silly to say that he couldn’t bear to lose her. He never had her. She was not a thing to be possessed. But her entrance in his life had conjured light. And losing the light of her would plunge him into a darkness he’d never find his way out of.”

The romance is a slow burn and highly addictive, if this is your type of romance then you will find yourself flying through the pages, highly anticipating the next interaction with a wildly beating heart. Gauri and Vikram have chemistry straight away, Gauri may have tried to kill Vikram in the beginning buy hey that’s just how Gauri is - stab ask questions later. I really don't want to say too much about this book because I feel it's one that the reader should go into slightly blind but I will say it's perfectly paced with lots of mythology and mystery to keep you entertained.

He turned to me, mischief glinting in his eyes.
“How do they celebrate good fortune in Bharata? In Ujijain, we kiss."
“Look elsewhere.”
“Are you sure? You spend an awful amount of time looking at my lips.”
“That’s only because I’m horrified at the sheer idiocy of the words leaping out of them.”

I highly recommend A Crown of Wishes for fantasy fans and for suckers for magical retellings with their own unique twist. Chokshi has such a lyrical way of writing, she has the ability to pull you into the story and allow you to experience everything first hand. I never wanted to leave the magical world with its lush wildlife and vivid scenery. I’m eagerly awaiting the short story Death and Night as I can’t wait to revisit the dazzling world Chokski has created

I loved reading A Crown of Wishes. It was a wonderful companion novel to Star-Touched Queen. There were some similarities with the the first book with the mythology and yet it was a different story. I really enjoyed the magic of this novel. It was a beautiful read and I even re-read it on audiobook because I enjoyed it so much.

Crown of Wishes follows the story of the Princess of Bharata, Gauri and the neighboring prince, Vikram. Vikram was given a chance of a lifetime to win a wish but he needs Gauri's help to win in the Tournament of Wishes. Vikram thinks it will be an easy win but won't they don't realize is that it's held in the mythical city and danger is lurking around every corner.

I loved that the POV's were from both main characters and not just one of them. It made the story richer and allowed you to see inside both heads. The story is well written and so descriptive that I felt transported to the land although sometimes it was too descriptive. I love the use of Indian words though I wish I had a vocab list at the beginning or end so that I could reference it.

Overall, I loved this story and I can't wait to read more from this author!

I put off reading this book because I honestly wasn’t a huge fan of the first one. I enjoyed the writing and the gorgeous worldbuilding, but the story itself didn’t really go anywhere. I was pretty disappointed because I had this book for review, and after reading the first, I couldn’t really bring myself to read it.

So, I ended up finally deciding to listen to the audiobook of the sequel instead of reading it. For some reason, I’ve found that I have a higher tolerance for slower stories when I’m listening than when I’m reading. Turns out, that I didn’t have to worry at all because I actually really enjoyed A Crown of Wishes. You see, this book has all of the wonderful qualities of the first, but without its one major flaw. Just like the first book, this installment features beautiful storytelling, richly-drawn mythology, and elaborate magic. But this book also has a strong plot, something that I found severely lacking in Star-Touched. And because of that, I was much more engaged with the characters. I cared far more about what happened to Gauri and Vikram than I ever did for Maya and Amar. The Tournament of Wishes was a wonderfully fantastical backdrop that gave Gauri and Vikram plenty to do—and the stakes felt much higher in this book. Sure, the story still occasionally got bogged down in the elaborate details, but I found myself engaged most of the time, which I couldn’t say with book one.

So, if you’re like me and you loved Chokshi’s gorgeous writing but found yourself a bit bored with the story in Star-Touched, I highly encourage you to give this second book a try. I’m very glad I did.

Oh, And you might want to pick up the audiobook because Priya Ayyar’s narration certainly does the book justice!

Overall, I give this 4/5 Stars.

This is as achingly beautiful and poetic as A STAR-TOUCHED QUEEN. I look forward to many, many more tales from Roshani Chokshi!

So, So GOOD! I love a good fantasy YA and Roshani Chokshi's first book was mind-glowingly good. This follow-up is just as lovely and does not disappoint. I certainly recommend this author to all lovers of good YA.

Opening line:
"Vikram had spent enough time with bitterness that he knew how to twist and numb the feeling."

I loved The Star-Touched Queen and I knew I would love this book as well because of the author's beautiful and lyrical writing. There were so many times I reread a line and thought, "I should mark that or write it down" then I would continue reading and find another line that struck me.
This book is actually a companion to The Star-Touched Queen, not a sequel like I thought.
Gauri and Vikram are an unlikely pair on an unlikely quest: to win a wish. Their chemistry and dialogue and story are magical and intense. Gauri likes to fight physically (warrior princess!) where Vikram likes to fight mentally; he is called The Fox Prince for good reason.
The story is full of interesting characters, dangers and learning to overcome weakness.

I would definitely read any book from this author!

Sex: Kissing, making out, suggested sex
Language: No
Violence: Yes, fights

Thanks to netgalley for the early read!

The thing about one's dreams is that they're almost never interesting to other people. It's possible to take an image or idea from a dream and spin it into a great story or artwork, sure, and I can think of plenty of examples. It's even possible to take the structure of dreams -- or the lack of structure, I guess -- and use that as a framework for larger concepts, assuming there is an existing context, such as a standing love of the characters. TV shows sometimes do this with great success.

The problem with this book is that it's basically like trying to follow along with someone else's dream, without any of the hard work that must be done by the dreamer (that is, the author/artist/filmmaker) to make that dream into a compelling, coherent story for anyone other than the him or herself. The main characters Vikram and Gauri (who don't especially resemble the Vikram and Gauri readers first met in The Star-Touched Queen, the "companion" novel set in the same world) are a little annoying and are headed quite clearly for the hate-turns-to-love trope, just because ROMANCE! Once they meet, events seem to just happen one after the next, like a series of random dreamy bits strung together, with hardly any narrative drive and even less context (again, even for those of us who read the "companion" novel"). Everything just floats around in a kind of soupy atmosphere, infused with South Asian mythology -- which could have been super interesting if it weren't so disconnected from any semblance of narrative thrust.

In my review of the companion novel, I said, "Good writing and interesting characters, but gets rather too bogged down in overly-lush atmosphere and confusing mythology." For this second book, I'd say rather the same thing, minus the good writing and interesting characters. I also wrote that "Chokshi's human-world stuff is a lot more compelling than her other-world ramblings," and that that first book was "largely saved by the fact that it has plenty of both." A Crown of Wishes seemed promising because it would focus more on the human character and human world. Unfortunately, that promise went unfulfilled; Chokshi skips right over into the dreamy ramblings as if she can't get there fast enough. And as with most other people's dreams, I remain entirely uninterested.

This was a such a pleasant surprise as to how much I enjoyed this book! I had to go out and buy the first book in the series before getting around to this one.
The magic system was extraordinary, the plot kept me intrigued the whole time, and the prose....holy moly. I highlighted so many passages in this ebook it is ridiculous.
I loved Gauri and Vikram, and I'm hoping this series continues?
Highly recommend-will be buying a copy for my teenage daughter to read now.

I received a copy of this book through Netgalley for an honest opinion. I would like to thank Roshani Chokshi and St. Martin's Press for the opportunity to read and review this beautiful book, inside and out.

If you follow my blog, then you probably remember when I raved about The Star-Touched Queen sometime last summer. I was so excited for this book to come out but then when it did come out it took me until now to find it and read it. I am so glad that I read it when I did though because I got to fully focus on it and enjoy it. This duology has become one of my favorites of all time and I am going to be recommending it to people all the time.

COVER

The cover of this book is so beautiful and simple. I love how Gauri is on a horse which shows her adventurous side. Her dress is also gorgeous and I love how magical the whole cover is.

WORLD-BUILDING

The world-building is as usual beautifully done. All the descriptions are so vivid and lyrical that you feel like you are there.

Then there are the characters.

GAURI

Gauri is a queen who has had her throne taken away from her but she still acts like the queen that she really is. She shows lots of strength and independence throughout the book which shows how bada*s she is. She is also very handy with a weapon and intimidates Vikram a lot [my ship]. She is very serious and knows what she wants and how to get it, without letting She is also a very smart heroine and she shows how beauty doesn't define her.

VIKRAM

Vikram was the best male character for this book. He is hilarious and is called the "fox prince" because he is sly and smart. Unlike Gauri, he is not good with a weapon and has to use his smarts in order to get himself out of unfortunate situations. He is handsome which is mentioned a couple of times. I really enjoyed his character because he was different from a lot of male characters/love interests.

FRIENDSHIP/FAMILY

Gauri has a very interesting relationship with her family. One of her brothers tried to intimidate her, poison her and eliminate her because he saw her as a threat to his throne even though he was not helping the kingdom at all by being in power. He saw her as a threat because she was obviously a better ruler.

PLOT

I really enjoyed the whole plot which reminded me a lot of Caraval by Stephanie Garber with the whole magical game thing. I liked the whole magical game concept and even though that is used a lot lately, it was shown in a new way. I liked how there were a lot of characters that were used in order to make the story a lot more interesting and move forward.

ROMANCE

This was hate-to-love at it's best. Gauri wants to kill/use Vikram for half the time and she is constantly intimidating him. Vikram is also using her in order to get what he wants but somehow they come together. And the tension is very visible.

WRITING

I love her writing because it is so beautiful and lyrical. The quotes are also really pretty and you can easily find quotes that are meaningful and read well.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I love Roshani Chokshi's writing and plots. Her characters are three dimensional and everything neatly ties up. I love this series and A Crown of Wishes is the perfect second installment because it follows different characters but is in the same world.

Beautifully Beautifully written with a wonderful plot. I enjoyed <i> The Star-Touched Queen </i> but fell in love with this book and it's characters.

The characters are engaging, not to mention there is smart, capable and witty heroine. I found myself barreling through this book as I could not put it down but instantly regretted not savouringit when I reached the end.
written

I went into A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi thinking that the book was a sequel to The Star-Touched Queen, which I read last year and really enjoyed. BUT, I was pleasantly surprised to find that this was actually a companion novel instead. Either way, I was super excited to finally read the book, as I had my eye on it for quite a while, and I was curious to see what it was about. This book is definitely one of my favorite reads of 2017 so far!

As I mentioned above, A Crown of Wishes is a companion novel to The Star Touched Queen. This is the story about a story about Gauri, the princess of Bharata, who is also the sister of Maya in the first book. To be honest, I didn't remember much about Gauri at first, and unfortunately I didn't have time to reread the first book before starting this one. Luckily there were plenty of reminders in the book to refresh my memory, and I quickly fell right into Gauri's story.
One of the things I love most about this book is our two main characters; Guari, the princess of Bharata, and Vikram, a prince from the neighboring land. These characters really made the book for me. I loved their snarky sense of humors, and the fact that they made me laugh so much throughout the story. I found myself totally rooting them on as they played the game, and I enjoyed that the story is told from their alternative perspectives. I also really loved Aasha, a secondary character in the story, whom is probably my most favorite character in the story. *grin*

I'm always a little nervous when starting the second book in a series, as it could either be really great, or totally not great at all, so I was curious to see where this book would stand. I was not disappointed at all! The storyline for the book was definitely entertaining, and I loved the 'game' part, which reminded me a little of Caraval by Stephanie Garber. The game was very interesting, as I never knew what to expect, and was always wondering what was going to happen next. I would totally not have survived these games if I were participating. Just saying.

Overall; I really enjoyed A Crown of Wishes a lot more than I expected to. The characters were great, and the storyline was entertaining and captivating. I'm not sure if there are going to be more books in this series, but I'd really love to see these characters again. Do check out The Star-Touched Queen AND A Crown of Wishes!!

Happy Reading!!

I loved Crown of Wishes. The description and world building are exquisite. Vikram and Gauri were well written and flawed characters as well as the side characters who all had intriguing backstories. Beautifully written unique story.

Before reading this book I read TSTQ, and I liked it…it was okay, but it took me a while to get into and to really get invested in the book and I didn’t feel like it boded well for this book. But then I started it and couldn’t put it down, I read this book in one sitting. This book was so enthralling and I loved the characters of Gauri and Vikram way more than Maya and Amar but still appreciated the fact that we got to see a little bit of them in this book. The world that Roshani built was amazing and I loved the connections that all the different places had to each other. I liked the concept of the tournament they were taking a part in. Overall I just loved this book. I had to go out and buy a copy of it so I could put it on my shelves.

I give this book a 5 out of 5 stars.

I loved loved The Star Touched Queen and Guari so of course i would love this book. I want to live in this book forever. A MUST READ

I didn't care for this book. It was difficult for me to wade through because of overly decadent writing and word choice that felt inappropriate for both the age category and genre. I could see how passionate the author was about the story, which was nice, but ultimately felt turned off by how much was put into the book.

The second installment in the Star-Touched Queen series, A Crown of Wishes was a joy to read. It takes place in the same universe as the first novel in the series, but it's plot is almost completely independent and could totally be read all on its own. It's a story of romance and magic, staring a hardened warrior princess and a witty and sly enemy prince. They are both thrown into a magic competition together to wish a single wish. Those wishes are something they both desperately want and will do anything to get, including work together. As tension rises and danger grows, they will learn to depend on each other to win, or die trying to go at it alone.

Magical in a different way then most other stories, A Crown of Wishes takes more of an Arabic air to it then anything else. With creatures that were all new to me and a mythos I was completely unfamiliar with, it was truly quite a treat. It was also quite great to read a novel that could be in a series yet stand completely on it's own. It was not reliant on any past plot building to be a good story and experience all on it's own. The main characters were a blast to read about and were very well developed with their unique strengths and flaws. All in all, I really enjoyed the book and give it the rating of FIVE OUT OT FIVE STARS!

Vikram, The Fox Prince, is a prince in name but not in power. Adopted by the Emperor of Ujijain when he was a small boy, the counsel does not see him as worthy of the throne. He wishes to rule Ujijain. Vikram receives a magical invitation to the Tournament of Wishes, a contest that promises to grant the winner their heart’s desire. But in order to play, he needs a partner.
Princess Gauri, Jewel of Bharata, wishes to overthrow her tyrant of a brother and lay claim to the throne. She has been exiled and imprisoned, forced to betray her best friend. Her brother sends her to Ujijain to be executed by Prince Vikram as a show of loyalty to Gauri’s brother, Skanda of Bharata. But her escape comes unexpectedly when Prince Vikram invites her to be his partner in the Other Realm’s Tournament of Wishes.
Will they find what their hearts desire within Alaka’s gates?
Vikram is a clever thinker, he is good at coming up with fair solutions, and his wits are his weapon. He is cool and collected in the face of danger, and a patient scholar. I really admired his inquisitive mind, wisdom, and sense of adventure.
Gauri is calculated, yet anxious, she has been raised as a warrior to trust no one. Her heart hurts for the pain that her brother Skanda has caused his subjects, but she wonders if her patience is another form of cowardice. She is quick thinking and always ready to fight. On the outside she appears hard and seamless, but I like how her friendship with Nalini showed her softer side as well as her growing friendship with Vikram.
Aasha is an other-worldly creature, she and her Vishakanya sisters feed on the desires of others but their touch is toxic. Aasha longs for the world beyond the Other Realm, she has questions about taste, touch, and the human world. She befriends Vikram and Guari, helping them navigate Alaka in return for information about the human world. Though a century old, she is youthful and brimming with questions and longing, she is a faithful friend, honest and true.
I was initially drawn to this book because I have read very little about Indian folklore and was intrigued by how their culture was expressed in their stories. It was interesting to see how different themes were played up compared to our western fairy tales, and I was completely enchanted by this spellbinding adventure of love, courage, desire, hope, vengeance, and forgiveness.
Vikram and Gauri are opposites, yet unknowingly the perfect complement to each other. Sparks fly, and there is great chemistry between them. I like how their grudging partnership warms to friendship as they face the trials of fear and love. Full of twists, humor, adventure, all with an Indian flare, it is an enchanting tale of desire and destiny. Highly recommend for fans of folklore and fantasy.